KATHMANDU
Visual artist Saurganga Darshandhari lets her feelings flow freely in her printmaking art. In her recent exhibition, she showcased the 'Mero Aamako Thaili' series of printmaking art along with others, which are the part of Tulikaa Kala's ‘Kholo 2.0, A Cycle of Life’ at Van Gogh Gallery, Patan Dhoka.

Traditional cloth pouch (Thaili) is her main motif along with female figures, men, wavy water, fishes, lotus and children among others; which she links with various aspects or feelings one gets in life. Her artworks are dreamlike which are pleasant to the eyes and have a rhythm to them. She has not created any facial features for any of the human figures. The reason for not having facial features is that any viewers can relate the artworks to themselves.

A total of 14 printmaking works of art using woodcut and etching methods are showcased at the exhibition which began on January 7. Ujen Norbu Gurung is the curator for the exhibition where his curatorial aspect has added an extra dimension to her artworks.

As you enter the gallery, the lights and the backdrop for the artworks give extra emphasis to them. He uses Chinese brocade having white and golden print for the frame and the walls are painted black. This eventually accentuates the colorful printmaking arts created by Saurganga.

In one of the printmaking art, she has created three thailis on a purple backdrop. The top thaili is knotted with the middle one and the middle one is knotted with the last one. Then the middle thaili has a few fishes swimming inside the thaili. According to Saurganga, in the artwork she depicted human nature to have more materialistic things in life and human beings constantly thinking of it, being tied to the feeling of anxiousness to get more worldly belongings. The motifs fishes and water is the metaphor for that want.

When asked why she chose thaili as her major motif, she explained, “I have always seen my mom having thaili and she herself sews it too. I have an emotional attachment to it as my mom uses it to this date. Moreover, these days these traditional thailis are no longer used and have been replaced by modern purses. However, its value and being authentic Nepali products are being recognized by gold and silver businesspeople. And through my artwork too, I want to preserve it for the future generation.”

She has a Master's degree in printmaking from the University of Development Alternative, Bangladesh. Currently, she is the founder of Bindu Space for artists who is also a lecturer at Lalitkala Campus, a general member of Sirjana College of Fine Arts, and Vice President of Printmaking Nepal.

The exhibition continues till Thursday.